Two men in Sri Lanka have received a suspended jail sentence after a magistrate ruled that they insulted religion by selling keyrings containing an image of Lord Buddha.

Buddhism is the majority religion in the island, the faith of most of its Sinhalese majority population.

The men, Abubaker Kalam and Tuan Rajabdeen, were arrested by police in the Pettah, a crowded bazaar area in the city centre, after they were found selling key tags with an image of the Buddha.

The Colombo chief magistrate pronounced them guilty under a section of the penal code which makes it an offence to insult a religion by defiling an object held sacred by that faith.

They were sentenced to one year's prison with hard labour, suspended for two years.

Such cases are rare. But some Sri Lankans have told the BBC that they believe that, with the rising political power of the Buddhist clergy in recent years, the social climate is getting more strict with regard to Buddhist observation and behaviour.

They have pointed to a similar trend in the country's third-largest religion, Islam.

Despite years of ethnically-grounded war, people often remark on the good and mutually respectful relations between the four main religions here – Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

Around five thousand internally displaced people (IDP) are being sounded to be ready to be shifted from one camp to another giving the inmates less than 24 hours notice, a Tamil lawmaker has said.

The IDPs at zone 4 of the Menik Farm camp have been instructed to be ready to move to the Kadirgamar camp on Wednesday morning according to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni distrisct MP Vino Noharathalingam.

The TNA MP says that the IDPs informed him that the officer in charge (OIC ) of the zone 4 camp has told them that they have to get ready to move to the new camp without raising any objection.

IDPs staying in the present camp have voiced various difficulties including getting in touch with their bread winners who are out on jobs to various districts in the country.

A/L students

More over the children in the IDP camps are in the midst of their A/L examinations and other scholarship exam says the Tamil MP.

According to him there are already issues including basic facilities in the Kathirkamar camp, where the inmates are supposed to take pass from the army before venturing out even to collect firewood.

In such a situation it would be unacceptable to shift these people from their present camps argue Vino Noharathalingam.

He also says that the OIC of the zone 4 camp has said the displaced persons that they would be resettled in a month's time after being shifted.

The IDPs say that it would not be prudent to shift the camps when they are going to be resettled in a month's time.

The Tamil MP also says that the has discussed this issue with the Deputy Minister for resettlement Vinagayamoorthy Muralitharan and the Minister for Economic Development and the president's brother Basil Rajapaksha expressing the concerns and fears of the IDPs.

While they have assured to revert back to him after discussing with officials, nothing of that sort has happened till Tuesday night according to the TNA MP.

Several Latin American community groups in Canada have come out strongly defending the hundreds of Tamil migrants, which include more than 100 women and children, who arrived in Canada aboard the MV Sun Sea.

The joint statement has denounced the Canadian media and public officials for "politically motivated stereotyping by classifying these refugees as terrorists", and has "called upon the people in Canada to express their solidarity with the Tamil people". The full text of the statement follows:

"We, the undersigned, in the Latin American community in Canada declare our support for our Tamil sisters and brothers ,and the estimated 400-500 Tamil asylum seekers aboard the MV Sun Sea, which include more than 100 women and children.

Canadian media and public officials are perpetuating politically motivated stereotyping by classifying these refugees as terrorists. These unfounded statements are based on already discredited sources close to the genocidal Sri Lankan government. We believe this to be a racist and xenophobic discourse that signals the predisposition and historical tendency of our government to deny the human and legal rights of these people.

Tens of thousands of Chileans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Salvadoreans and Uruguayans, among others, came to Canada under similar conditions – as refugees and exiles fleeing war and political persecution. Considering this historical experience, we recognize our solidarity with these women, men and children, who like us are simply looking to live their lives with the peace and dignity denied to them in their homeland.

We call upon the Canadian government to comply with its obligations under international law to respect the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

We also call on the people of Canada to express their solidarity with the Tamil people by contacting their elected officials and demand they begin to act in accordance with the principles and values of a just society."

Defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday cited the example of the first batch of Indian doctors who treated the internally displaced Tamils in 2009 to argue that Sri Lanka did not have anything to hide about civilian casualties. Deposing before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), set-up to look into the last years of the civil conflict, Rajapaksa said the Indian medical team was the first one to treat those displaced who were evacuated by ship from the final theatre of battle. In March, 2009, a team of Indian doctors had set up a field hospital in Pulmodai, near the east coast.

"They were brought to the (Indian) hospital. They (Indian doctors) were the ones to receive them…to treat them and send them to other places. There was nothing we were hiding," Rajapaksa said.

But in June this year, a doctor from the second Indian team to be dispatched here had told HT that there were "massive casualties, both dead and injured, during the last phase of the battle that got over in May, 2009.

Rajapaksa said more than 6000 armed forces personnel were killed and over 30000 injured during the final few years of the conflict.

"Number of people killed in the LTTE side would be much more. Nobody talks about LTTE's casualties. Everybody talks about civilian casualty. It is difficult to make out civilian casualty. This is clear evidence of how LTTE used civilians as (human) shield," he said.

The arrival of the 490 Tamil boat people seeking refuge in Canada is a symptom of the continued humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka. It’s time for the government of Canada to rally international efforts to pressure the Sri Lankan government improve living conditions on the ground, say New Democrats.

“After the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka, Minister Cannon simply moved on from the file and failed to maintain international attention on the plight of Tamils,” said New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre). “Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of displaced people continued to be targeted for brutal human rights violations in government-run camps in unhealthy and unsafe conditions and without access to international aid agencies.”

“What motivated these people to take such a dangerous journey is the violence, insecurity, mass detention and human rights violations that have been widely reported by independent observers,” said New Democrat Immigration and Citizenship Critic Olivia Chow. “The best way to prevent others from having to make similar journeys in the future is to work on ending the humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka”.

With the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, New Democrats urged the Conservative government to take the lead with the international community to help rebuild the country. Specially ensuring the protection of all civilians, full access for humanitarian workers and media, and initiate internationally mediated efforts aimed at achieving a durable political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka. Dewar points if these measures would have been put in place last year these migrants might not have taken such a drastic step in trying to arrive in Canada.

“Canada missed an opportunity in post-conflict Sri Lanka for leadership in reconciliation, justice, and institution building to ensure that peace and stability are equitable and sustainable,” said Dewar. “The Conservatives should stop blaming the victims of the conflict who are now seeking asylum in Canada and instead rally the international community around improving the conditions on the ground in Sri Lanka.”

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